Stars and Stripes Disaster

This article submitted by on 11/18/01.

Topic: Give your tale a brief descriptive title

The Tale:

I am a flutist and was asked to play a Fourth of July concert with a community band this past summer. The conductor told me what we would be playing- mostly Sousa marches. Stars and Stripes? No problem, I know that.
The regular band version starts in Eb and goes to Ab at the trio, and I think the orchestral version starts in D. I was very surprised when I sat down and opened my folder as the concert began to find that this particularly off-the-wall version was in Bb and went to Eb at the trio! To add to my horror, the entire flue secion was to stand for the cool obligato part and there were mikes right in front of us.
Eb is not a particularly hard key, but that doesn't make it sufficiently easier to sight read lots of notes and trills. I sweated and tried to squint down at the music and lean away from the mike while not making myself obvious. That's the last time I ever agree to sight read a concert.

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